Mayor raises a stink about garbage
Published Tuesday November 3rd, 2009
SAINT JOHN - Mayor Ivan Court wants the city to hold a public vote on a new collection system that would charge residents for the amount of garbage they haul to the curb.
Court told common council Monday night he was firmly opposed to what is commonly called a user-pay system, arguing such a method of trash collection would benefit the rich and hurt the poor.
The mayor said that if council wanted to look into the matter further, it should ask the people what they want.
"If we are going to go in that direction I would rather see a plebiscite by the citizens of Saint John to see if that is the direction they would want to go in," Court said, referring to a public vote that, unlike a referendum, would not be binding.
Council did not vote on a plebiscite, nor did the politicians decide on adopting a user-pay system. Instead, council voted to leave the door open to adopting the system in the future.
The vote came after a special, two-hour meeting on waste collection in the council chamber Monday night.
The politicians reviewed presentations and reports on a potential curbside recycling program and a proposed garbage system that would see residents pay for collection on a separate bill.
Council met in what's called "committee of the whole," a more informal style of meeting where the politicians can't make formal decisions. They can only make recommendations to move on something at a regular council session.
A council member would have to present a motion in a regular open council meeting to call on his or her fellow politicians to formally adopt a new trash system, Coun. Gary Sullivan said an email after the gathering.
The proposal was not met with overwhelming support or opposition on Monday, however. A number of councillors said they support the idea of a user-pay system, but they shared the mayor's concerns that such a method may be costly for those who can't afford it.
Coun. Donnie Snook said he wanted to make sure the system was fair. He said that if people are going to pay for the amount of trash they haul to the curb, they should have access to a curbside recycling program.
A staff report found that a curbside program would be expensive, however, costing nearly $2.8 million to buy the bins and about $1.1 million to operate the program, although the operational costs would decline the more people recycle.
"For those who can't get to those blue bins, they don't have the opportunity to divert their waste," Snook said, referring to the big metal depots located across the city. "My concern is that they will be putting out more bags of garbage, not by a fault of their own, and they are going to be paying more."
Council heard Monday night a user-pay system would transfer the costs of collection from the tax rate to a separate bill. If council adopted the system, the politicians could shave the tax rate by nearly seven cents, but Court said only the wealthy would see the benefits.
"The bulk of the people in Saint John, the ordinary citizens, are not getting a tax break," Court said. "We're giving a tax break to the rich at the expense of the poor."
A city staff report showed the cost of trash collection is about $3.8 million. Spread evenly among the nearly 22,000 households in Saint John, the cost would be about $173 annually for each household.
Since the service is currently funded by property taxes, many people are paying less than $173, the report said. Owners of homes worth $75,000, for example, pay just about $52 for the service, while owners of more expensive homes pay upwards of $275 and beyond.
Coun. Chris Titus said a user-pay system is the most fair and equitable.
"(A user pay system) is the most fair, effective and efficient system and would also would€¦encourage people to recycle, reuse and to compost."
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Comments (17)
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As a cost cutting measure, why don't we put bags all on one side of the street? Truck currently goes down my street twice, once for each side. With the streets that have alternate parking it seems to me that placing all bags on the "no parking" side would save time, fuel and wear and tear on equipment.
The recent change to nite pick up, from my observation, is working well. Garbage is supposed to be placed on curb after 6 pm. Why do some people put out in early am to give the critters 12+ hours to get into the bags and make major messes. Is 6 pm thing a bylaw? If so then it needs to be inforced...if not then a major education campaign is needed. It also seems to me that worst offenders are "consumers of social services"...
Pay by the bag for home owners should see a neutral effect (assuming a tax rate reduction) and landlords will see their costs reduced and tenants will have to pay. Will landlords pass their savings to tenants?
As for curb side recycling I think that what was presented must be the Cadillac of recycling. There is more economical ways of going about it (i.e. blue bags)than expensive bins. Look into this again council.
1 - yes lets go to user pay so we can encourage less garbage and more recycling
2 - smaller homes will pay more than current while homes over $200000 ( I think was the cut off) will actually save.
As a compromise maybe we could have a minimum number of bags included in the tax rate. Say 2. And then a user pay for anything over that. That way low income wouldn't suffer as long as they kept it to 2 bags and subsidizers wouldn't be subsidizing abusers.
In any case, we need more readily accessible recycling bins especially in priority neighbourhoods before we start limiting garbage.
With curbside recycling, garbage is reduced and diverted from the landfill. I wonder if the savings this would generate in terms of longevity of the landfill were factored into the calcualtions of a curbside program? If the spin off benefits of additional jobs for sorting were included? if the money generated from selling recyclables were thought about? A curbside program is not all baout costs; it is also about savings!
Probably the same as when it happens now except you'd have 2 bag tags for your own garbage to identify them.
I agree that illegal dumping is,was, and will be a problem that requires enforcement help from the city.
Just a thought, but I would even be willing to buy my own recycling containers if they went to curbside. One time cost, and the money I would save on my "user pay" garbage pick up would pay for itself. Not saying everyone wants to spend that money on their own recycling container, but it's just another idea to throw out there.
User Pay without curbside recycling is not going to work, in my opinion.
BUT he is for Peel Plaza, despite public outcry and is NOT looking for public vote.
My issue is with his leadership and goverance. (or lack thereof).